Maltese Women's League

The Maltese Women's League or for sponsorship reasons Assikura Women's League is the top-level league of women's football in Malta. It is run by the Malta Football Association.

Maltese Women's League
Founded1995 (1995)
Country Malta
ConfederationUEFA
Divisions1
Number of teams8
Level on pyramid1
Domestic cup(s)Maltese Women's Cup
International cup(s)UEFA Champions League
Current championsBirkirkara (11th title)
(2022–23)
Most championshipsHibernians (12 titles)
Websitewebsite
Current: 2023–24

After several failed attempts in the 1970s and 1980s to create a lasting women's football competition, successful tournaments of San Gwann and Luxol St. Andrews gained so much interest, that the Malta Football Association decided to organize the first ever league in 1995–96.

The most titles were won by Hibernians.

Although the winning team of the league qualifies for a spot in the UEFA Women's Champions League, the spot is not always taken. Malta currently sits at the last spot in the UEFA coefficients women's ranking[1] and the last club to take part was Birkirkara in 2007–08; Birkirkana lost all three games with 1–37 goals. In 09–10 they competed again and ended up with three losses and 1-26 goals.

2023–24
Maltese Women's League is located in Malta
Birkirkara
Hibernians
Lija Athletic
Lija Athletic
Mgarr United
Mgarr United
Mtarfa
Mtarfa
San Gwann
San Gwann
Valletta
Valletta
Location of teams in 2023–24 Maltese Women's League

Teams

The teams which will participate in the 2023-24 Assikura Women's League are the following:[2]

TeamCityLast season
BirkirkaraBirkirkara1st
HiberniansPaola4th
Lija AthleticLija5th (as Raiders Lija)[2]
Mgarr UnitedMgarr3rd
MtarfaMtarfa6th
San ĠwannSan Ġwann7th
Swieqi UnitedSwieqi2nd
VallettaValletta5th (as Raiders Lija)[2]

Venues

The 2023-24 season will be played at the following venues:[2]

VenuesCityCapacity
Centenary StadiumTa' Qali3,000
Victor Tedesco StadiumHamrun1,962
Dingli GroundDingli~500
Mgarr GroundMgarr~200

Format

Until the 2011–12 season there were eight teams in the league. The teams played each other twice for a total of 14 matches each. After that the champion qualifies to the UEFA Champion's League and the last two places are relegated to the Maltese Seceond Division. Since then the format has changed a lot.

In the 2012–13, after the regular season the top four played a championship group and the bottom placed four teams played the relegation round. Points of the regular season and the second stage were added. In 2013–14 there was just one stage, where seven teams played each other three times. Also there was a title decider match after the top two teams were tied on points. Hibernians won the title over Birkirkara in a penalty shootout.

In 2014–15 there were eleven teams, and again a championship group to which the top six after the regular season qualified.

For 2015–16 the league was reduced to six teams. They play each other four times for a total of 20 matches per team.

For the 2023–24 season, the league will be the only division in Malta and will comprise of 8 clubs. In terms of format, the league will be split into two phases. In the first part of the season, the eight teams of the league will face each other played in a double round-robin format. Thereafter, the division will be split into two divisions, with the top four at the end of the first part of the season qualifying for the Championship Round and the bottom four qualifying for the Relegation Round. In both cases, each team will play each other three teams.[2]

List of champions

The season winners are:[3][4]

  • 1995/96: Rabat Ajax
  • 1996/97: Lija Athletic
  • 1997/98: Rabat Ajax
  • 1998/99: Hibernians
  • 1999/00: Hibernians
  • 2000/01: Hibernians
  • 2001/02: Hibernians
  • 2002/03: Hibernians
  • 2003/04: Hibernians
  • 2004/05: Hibernians
  • 2005/06: Hibernians
  • 2006/07: Birkirkara
  • 2007/08: Hibernians
  • 2008/09: Birkirkara
  • 2009/10: Birkirkara
  • 2010/11: Mosta
  • 2011/12: Birkirkara
  • 2012/13: Birkirkara
  • 2013/14: Hibernians
  • 2014/15: Hibernians
  • 2015/16: Hibernians
  • 2016/17: Birkirkara
  • 2017/18: Birkirkara
  • 2018/19: Birkirkara
  • 2019/20: Birkirkara
  • 2020/21: not awarded
  • 2021/22: Birkirkara
  • 2022/23: Birkirkara

Record Champions
Titles Team
12 Hibernians
11 Birkirkara
2 Rabat Ajax
1 Lija Athletic
Mosta

References
  1. https://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Download/competitions/WomenCup/89/50/90/895090_DOWNLOAD.pdf
  2. "AWL Build-Up Part 1: – The New Format, Teams and Weekend Matches". The Sporting Fan. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  3. "Malta - List of Women Champions". RSSSF. Retrieved 8 April 2012.
  4. "Women's football archive". maltafootball.com. 8 March 2010. Retrieved 8 April 2012.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.